Funding Awarded: $170,060

INDUSTRY PARTNER:

Solar Skies Manufacturing, LLC

Key Partners:

Alexandria Technical College, Rural MN CEP

Project Summary:

In the Alexandria/Starbuck area, Alexandria Technical College is working with solar thermal manufacturer Solar Skies Manufacturing, LLC to create solar thermal training to develop new instructors (train-the-trainer) and to provide community-based workshops on solar energy.

Project Outcomes:

• 3 Module Solar Thermal Training course developed

         o Solar Thermal Overview

         o Solar Thermal System Design & Integration

         o Solar Thermal System Diagnostics & Monitoring

• Train-the-trainer course developed for delivery of modules

• Portable trainers built for installation practice including a roof trainer, controls trainer and a piping trainer

• 11 people participated in train-the-trainer course

• 45 additional participants trained from the trainers

• Curriculum added to several courses within MnSCU due to the instructors attending the Solar Thermal train-the-trainer Session

Project Description:

One of the biggest benefits from this project was being able to capture knowledge from industry professionals (Solar Skies) to educators and trainers (at Alexandria Technical College) to the community (which including building contractors; heating, ventilation, & air conditioning contractors; plumbers and engineers).

The goal was to create a train-the-trainer course that would expand the number of contractors able to install solar thermal solutions manufactured by Solar Skies in Starbuck, MN. "This training gets more people out in the field using our products, but it also adds another skill set to generate more income for Building and HVAC contractors," said Solar Skies President, Randy Hagen.

"One of our project coordinators, Linda Muchow, worked closely with solar expert, Kurt Koegel, from Solar Skies to capture all of the knowledge that he's gained over his years of experience, and transfer that into a train-the-trainer course," said Chad Coauette, Dean of Customized Training for Alexandria Technical College. "We've created a model now for that knowledge transfer that we can use with other industries."

The three modules cover an overview of Solar Thermal, Solar Thermal System Design & Integration, and Solar Thermal System Diagnostics and Monitoring. They include hands-on exercises, quizzes and tests. The Carpentry and Mechatronics departments at Alexandria Technical College assisted in building three portable trainers to help in course delivery. The train-the-trainer session was held first in Alexandria in April, 2010. After that, the first participant session was held at Alexandria Technical College. Central Lakes College, Brainerd, hosted the second participant session. Century College, White Bear Lake, hosted the third participant session. All three of these sessions were delivered by Kurt Koegel and Jason Edens. Jason, Rural Renewable Energy Alliance, attended the initial Solar Thermal train-the-trainer Session. The final session was hosted by Northwest Technical College, Bemidji and was taught by Jeff Brower. Jeff, Plumbing Instructor NW Tech, attended the initial Solar Thermal train-the-trainer Session.

"In the future, we'd like to have this technology specified in new construction," said Kurt Koegel, Sales, Technical Support, and Training at Solar Skies. "In addition to contractors, we want to have engineers and architects build solar thermal into building plans from the ground up."

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Kurt Koegel and Todd Zarbok, Mechatronics instructors at ATC, have been working on the hands-on-trainers to be used in classes on solar energy.  The smaller trainer is a Controls Trainer that demonstrates how the controls work on a solar thermal system. The larger one will simulate two different types of solar thermal systems. There is a third trainer (no picture yet) that will simulate a roof and the installation of the solar panels.